Looks like we all bought the wrong thing

[SpyderSkeets]

I think you folks missed my point in posting. See what it says? "The most fun you can have on three wheels".
I don't know about you guys, but to me, the Spyder would be pretty hard to beat in the fun on three wheels contest. Then again, I've never rode a Ural.

[Peteoz]

I think you folks missed my point in posting. See what it says? "The most fun you can have on three wheels".
I don't know about you guys, but to me, the Spyder would be pretty hard to beat in the fun on three wheels contest. Then again, I've never rode a Ural.

Nope, I don’t think most of us missed your point, SpyderSkeets. You really DO need to ride one before dismissing their significant “fun” levels. Urals are a LOT of fun on 3 wheels and can ford streams, travel very rough dirt tracks and do all sorts of fun things that the Spyder can’t . Horses for courses . Mind you, being passed by pushbike riders while on the freeway is a bit embarrassing

Pete

[Fat Baxter]

When I was considering moving to three wheels (bad knee), the Ural was at the top of my list. I was tired of BMW's complexity and uber-expensive maintenance. Yes, they run for long distances and can rack up incredibly high mileage, but when they break, ... be ready to take out a small loan! That, and their very thin dealer network eventually soured me on the marque.

I read a lot about Urals. Yes, they need more frequent maintenance (checking for loose fittings, etc.), but the bike itself is stupid simple to work on (kinda like BMW airheads used to be). If you can work on a lawn mower engine, you can work on a Ural. In about 2002, the Ural work force bought out the company and went on a quality improvement kick, with great success. They started using Japanese electrics and carburetors; the handlebar controls came from Italy; the gears are Swiss or German. They now have disk brakes.

Yes, they are quirky, but their relatively small ridership is fiercely loyal. That counts, in my mind.

My wife surprised me by recommending the Spyder; she didn't see the sense of a sidecar rig. I had seen a Spyder at a dealer and thought them rather odd. And the dealer admitted they were hard to work on (shades of BMW again?). And not cheap -- easily twice the cost of a Ural.

Then the 2014 RT hit the market and got rave reviews; reliability was way up. So I got an RT-S. And shortly thereafter, one of the local bike dealers added Spyders to their floor.

And if the Spyder gets too expensive to keep running, there's a Ural dealer up-state.

[CA Railwhale]

When I was considering moving to three wheels (bad knee), the Ural was at the top of my list. I was tired of BMW's complexity and uber-expensive maintenance. Yes, they run for long distances and can rack up incredibly high mileage, but when they break, ... be ready to take out a small loan! That, and their very thin dealer network eventually soured me on the marque.

I read a lot about Urals. Yes, they need more frequent maintenance (checking for loose fittings, etc.), but the bike itself is stupid simple to work on (kinda like BMW airheads used to be). If you can work on a lawn mower engine, you can work on a Ural. In about 2002, the Ural work force bought out the company and went on a quality improvement kick, with great success. They started using Japanese electrics and carburetors; the handlebar controls came from Italy; the gears are Swiss or German. They now have disk brakes.

Yes, they are quirky, but their relatively small ridership is fiercely loyal. That counts, in my mind.

My wife surprised me by recommending the Spyder; she didn't see the sense of a sidecar rig. I had seen a Spyder at a dealer and thought them rather odd. And the dealer admitted they were hard to work on (shades of BMW again?). And not cheap -- easily twice the cost of a Ural.

Then the 2014 RT hit the market and got rave reviews; reliability was way up. So I got an RT-S. And shortly thereafter, one of the local bike dealers added Spyders to their floor.

And if the Spyder gets too expensive to keep running, there's a Ural dealer up-state.

Aren't Urals basically WWII era BMW R75s? From the photos I have seen, they look like the Russians just looted the BMW tooling and started producing them in 1945 without the blackout light and machine gun mount.

[Fat Baxter]

Aren't Urals basically WWII era BMW R75s? From the photos I have seen, they look like the Russians just looted the BMW tooling and started producing them in 1945 without the blackout light and machine gun mount.

Sorta/kinda. Back before WW2, when the Nazis and Rooskies were buddies, the Germans gave the Soviets the blueprints for their R75 sidecar rigs. During the war, the Soviets produced them by the crapload, essentially using them the way we used Jeeps; i.e., a small utility vehicle. After the war, they kept producing them, with some minor upgrades as technology got better (but not much). They also produced some for their domestic market, as there weren't a lot of options for Soviet citizens to buy cars.

Throughout the Cold War, Urals continued to see military duty within Warsaw Pact countries. Here's a video showing some rigs with machine guns, and even an anti-tank rocket launcher: .

The current Urals still look and function much like a BMW airhead (part of their charm and central to their simplicity), but their build quality nowadays is way ahead of their past reputation as a "Russian POS." I read one review a few years back that compared current Ural reliability to Hondas of the '80s .... which actually isn't that bad a compliment.

The really funny thing is, after WW2 when the Soviets were bestest buddies with the Chicoms, they gave all their old Ural tooling to them, and the Chinese subsequently built their own BMW-cum-Ural knockoffs, which are known as Chang Jiang. They kept the old tech flavor going for many years (i.e., very little improvement), but their build quality is even worse than the Russians'. Still, if you like fiddling with your machine, and can live with only 22 HP and a 45 MPH top speed, they too have their adherents.

[sidecarrick]

I have one and it's a blast to ride. I like riding it in the winter while it's snowing. People think you're crazy
IMG_0436.jpg
I have a Dnepr and a Chang Jiang too.